the winds are gusting at 85 miles per hour, and the other big concerns are life-threatening storm surge and heavy rain. we are tracking who is in the most danger. all of this as millions of people in florida are taking those first painful steps towards recovery. so many lives are upended by hurricane ian s devastation, and the storm is likely one for the record books as the grim evidence of the powerful strike now litters coastlines. today, fort myers beach impassable. shells of buildings is all that is left. boats are tossed like toys as well as homes at this point, we know that 25 people have died in florida. roughly 2 million without power, and staggering level of destruction and damage estimates are climbing fast. we have teams covering it all, and we begin in south carolina where ian is bearing down and our nick valencia is in myrtle beach. what are you seeing there, nick? well, ana, we are getting a break in the rain, and wred not expecting it to last, but the residen
wow. you got the video? i got it. here it is. oh, man. that s our pool. that s our deck. that was my house. my house is gone. jesse: a fox news alert, one of the largest search and rescue missions in american history is underway after hurricane ian decimated moving up the east coast. governor ron desantis says the situation is really bad. the amount of water that s been rising, will likely continue to rise today, even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flood event. jesse: first responders are working around the clock. hundreds have been rescued since the storm hit. here s nassau county deputies saving two people stranded on a sailboat in the storm. hold on, hold on! hold! jesse: on the other side of the state, naples firefighters rescued a woman trapped in floodwaters. watch. jesse: it s all hands on deck. we re seeing the best side of people come out in the face of tragedy. a good samaritan used his jet ski to help firefighters with rescue
coast guard deployed 16 rescue helicopters, six fixed wing aircraft and 18 rescue boats and crews. that s just one element of the many federal search and rescue teams staged in florida and the governor talked about how impressed he was with what the coast guard is going this morning. these are dangerous missions and i m grateful for the brave women and men, federal, state and local governments working as one team, risking their lives to save others. and we re going to learn a lot more in the coming hours. but we know many families are hurting, many are hurting today, and our entire country hurts with them, because all over the country we ve seen so many crises, but in florida today is the epicenter. we re continuing to see deadly rainfall, catastrophic storm surges, roads and homes flooded. we re seeing millions of people without power and thousands hunkered down in schools and commune centers. they re wondering what s going to be left when they get to go home, quote, unquote
we think they re the right plans because those plans make our economy competitive. and european countries scramble to protect key infrastructure, following the suspected sabotage of two critical gas pipelines. we start in florida where hurricane ian, a powerful category four storm, is right now making landfall, bringing with it winds of almost 250 kilometres per hour. heavy rain is lashing the west coast. millions of people are braced for catastrophic damage and life threatening storm surges which could be nearly two metres high this is the scene right now in punta gorda. brutal conditions. it s under a state of emergency. the storm had been stregnthening as it hit florida. these are the latest pictures from marco island in florida. and here s the state governor speaking in the last hour. ian will produce hurricane stren-th ian will produce hurricane strength winds and massive floodin-, not ust winds and massive flooding, notjust where it makes the initial landfall but throu
rising causing residents to track towards higher ground. absolutely nuts. brian: more than 70,000 floridians are without power this morning. governor ron desantis urging residents to get out. time to evacuate is come to an end. you need to evacuate now. the governor will give another update in just about 30 minutes. we will bring that to you live. first, we have live fox team coverage janice dean tracking the storm s latest path. fox news weather we start with robert ray in fort myers. robert? good morning. you know, as light is about to come up here and these rain bands and window really intensify, conditions are deteriorating here in fort myers beach. the gulf of mexico, just a football field over there. churning up. i was just over there. when it gets light, we will show you that. you can see right now, these heavy bands as hurricane ian is right out there. the eye center is about 70 miles from where i m standing it s 30 miles wide and the window fell well over 300